A classic case of chuckles

British musician and stand-up comedian Rainer Hersch promises to leave audiences in splits with his comical take on Classical music. The performer will be in India for five shows, starting today

He has performed extensively around the world and now, musician-comedian Rainer Hersch is set to rock the Indian comedy stage with solo performances and by collaborating with Indian talents. The performer, who will be visiting the country for the fifth time, is looking forward to great shows and “walking around without someone on my shoulder who is worried about getting rabies from looking at poor people,” says Hersch, at his wittiest best.

“I first came to India in 1991 with my girlfriend, now wife, Connie. She is German, had never been out of Europe and had a major culture shock with all the people and what not,” he adds. The stand-up comic’s love for comedy and Classical music began at a young age. By the time he was 12, he had learnt to play the clarinet but was quickly drawn to the piano, which he studied properly from the age of 14.

Hersch began his working life with the management of musical arts organisations. But the comedy had taken a hold and he began moonlighting as a stand-up comedian on the London cabaret circuit. Soon, this developed into a parallel career and in 1992 he quit his job to enter the world of professional comedy, and hasn’t looked back since.

While there have been plenty of examples of comedians who have used music --s either being funny with it by singing songs, or being funny about it, Hersch, who is in India thanks to the folks at The Comedy Store India, believes that what separates him from the rest is that his comedy is about Western Classical music. “It’s not that this genre gets me more crowd, it probably gets less, but, you can’t please all the people, all the time,” asserts the performer.

Hersch will be doing four stand-up shows – 30-minute capsules of comedy with two other comics and one solo show called All Classical Music Explained during this visit. While the first four shows will be staged in the city, the last show on October 19 will take place in Delhi.